This database contains an index to petitions for naturalization from 1792-1989 filed in various federal, state, and local courts in New York City. Information that may be found in this database for each individual includes:

Given name and surname

Court where petitioned

Naturalization date

Birth date or age

Nationality

Arrival port

Arrival date

A reference to the location of the original record including a volume number, page number and record number

Other information found on the cards, but not indexed includes occupation, present address, and names, occupations, and addresses of witnesses.

Note: Once you've found an image of an individual you are interested in, be sure to check the next or following image, as often times it is the backside of the card you are looking at and could contain some additional information about your person of interest.

About the Naturalization Process:

The first step for an immigrant wishing to become an official U.S. citizen was to complete a Declaration of Intention to naturalize. These papers are also known as First Papers as they are the first forms to be completed in the naturalization process. Generally these papers were filled out fairly soon after an immigrant's arrival in America. After the immigrant had completed these papers and met the residency requirement (which was usually five years), the individual was able to submit his Petition for Naturalization. Petitions are also known as Second or Final Papers because they are the second and final set of papers completed in the naturalization process. Immigrants also took a naturalization oath or oath of allegiance. These oaths are often filed with the immigrant's first or second papers. After an immigrant had completed all citizenship requirements he was issued a certificate of naturalization. Many of these documents may be found in the court in which they were created.

The amount of information that is contained on each of these naturalization documents varies widely between time and place. However, they often contain significant genealogical information and are often worth the search to locate them.